A Message of Finality
by Cowswithguns
Summary: Harry's journey back to the room where the Sorcerer's Stone used to be, invited by a mysterious person... no not another ronhermoine get-together.
1. Default Chapter

On one of the many third-floor corridors of Hogwarts School was a darkened, lonely hallway. All the torches haven't been lit in years, their metal fixtures covered with rust. At midnight, with heavy clouds signaling a rainy next day, it was pitch black. Our solitary traveler in the halls had to resort to lighting his wand to see. He walked slowly, his steps impeded by the huge invisibility cloak over his body except for his wand hand, which poked out to give light. Our traveler, his friends (and his enemies) called him Harry, was prepared to quickly pull the wand inside the cloak to make him completely invisible. In fact, for the sole reason of preventing detection, Harry also carried a handy map. The Marauder's Map, as it was called, acted like a magical GPS system. On the frayed parchment, every hallway, classroom, and secret entrances were marked. More importantly, it marked every person in the area, and their current location. By checking the moving dots that represented living things, Harry could avoid anyone he didn't wish to run into. Being out of bounds was an expellable offense, and after being nearly caught twice, and actually caught four times, Harry thought he shouldn't push his luck. So he made his way slowly, watching each step carefully to make as little noise as possible. Soon he arrived at a door. Harry took out a crumpled piece of parchment from his pocket. An owl delivered it to him during breakfast. An squiggly but clear writing showed the few words to Harry. "Midnight, tonight. At the former entrance to the Sorcerer's Stone. Tell no one." At a school where enemies were plentiful, Harry was cautious. He merely crumbled it and threw it in his pocket before anyone else could read it. Harry decided to ignore the message. But eventually curiosity got the better of him. So here Harry was, in front of a heavy wooden door he crossed once before. Harry observed the lock. It was opened, and by the heavy looks of the bolt, it was opened with magic. Harry grabbed the doorknob, and swung it open. The room inside was unsurprisingly dark. Harry brought his hand carrying the wand in front of him. It illuminated the stone walls, covered with mildew from years of neglect, and a fellow student. His name was Draco, Draco Malfoy.  
  
"Hello, Harry. Nice to see you've heeded my request," said Malfoy, with a smirk.  
  
"You? What are you doing here?" Spat Harry. He and Malfoy had been enemies since before school term even began.  
  
"If we start arguing now we'd never finish. And by morning, we would surely be caught. I know you also have a rather extensive schedule tomorrow, so I will do my best to be finished as early as possible so you could get some sleep." Malfoy never took off his eyes from Harry, although the light from the wand must have been blinding him. "I hate you. To death. You ruined my name, put my father in prison, and, well, I just don't like you. Fortunately, you hate me too. That allows me to make a rather final proposition. I am challenging you to a wizard's duel. Tomorrow, right here. Will you accept?"  
  
"What says that you stay for this one?" Harry had already been challenged by Malfoy once before at wizard's duel. That time, Malfoy ratted on Harry and he'd nearly been caught.  
  
Malfoy now spoke with contempt, all his hatred rushing back to his voice that he masked with an air of politeness. He said, "Well, this time, instead of expelling you, I really want to see you die." With that he left, roughly brushing Harry aside to get through the doorway. Harry whispered, "I'll be here," to the humid air in the room. It was a long time before he left the room. 


	2. Chapter 2

The next day went by uneventfully, except for his friends, Ron and Hermoine, pointing out that Harry looked 'out of it,' over a dozen times. He answered their comments with the briefest of responses. Harry actually was trying to remember the variety of curses and jinxes he had learned over the years. He could do better with Hermoine's help, who was quite smart, but Harry decided to this alone. If he told them about the wizard's duel set for that night, they would certainly force Harry to take them. That might get both of them hurt, which happened before. Harry wanted them out of this, for their sake. He never looked forward to the night like this. Breakfast... Lunch... Dinner... they all passed in a daze.  
  
No matter how much he concentrated, Harry could not block out the thoughts inching into his brain. You don't remember all the jinxes...Malfoy can know more dark magic than you...Finally Harry decided to do something about it. He decided to ask Ron for help, without endangering him. Ron complied right away, although with a suspicious look at Harry. What Harry just asked him to do made little sense to Ron, but it made up Harry's entire plan B.  
  
11:45. Show time. Harry didn't bother with the invisibility cloak this time. In fact, a part of him wanted to get caught, away from the trap he knew Malfoy had set in place for him. But, as fate would have it, he had a clear path all the way to the room. In fact, it was a bright full moon out, so his wand wasn't even lit. Harry approached the room. He opened the door, and the windowless room was dark as usual. Taking out his wand, Harry stepped into the room. Like the other time, Malfoy waited there for him.  
  
"Nice of you to be so trusting, Harry." Malfoy wore a cloak this time, a blackness which matched perfectly with the surrounding walls.  
  
"Let's get this over with," said Harry, with a bite of anger in his voice. He stepped into the room.  
  
"Aww... But we were having so much fun." Malfoy cracked open one of his smirks. Harry stood there, and realized the little moonlight coming through the door was fading. He turned around, just in time to see the door close with a thump. Pitch black. A flash of light blinded Harry. Malfoy had just lit his wand. "No help now, Potter." Malfoy's wand gave off a light much brighter than the moon, and it illuminated the whole room. No less than a dozen people were in this room, and judging by Malfoy's total lack of surprise, he had brought them. All of them wore the same black cloak as Malfoy, and helped make them disappear in Harry's eyes. They also each carried a wand, all pointed directly at Harry. "No escape..." said Malfoy. The cloaked people, they looked like seventh years, too big to fight with, started making a circle around Malfoy and Harry.  
  
"Whatever happened to the sacred rules of dueling?" Harry tried to conceal his immense panic.  
  
"Something my father taught me." Said Malfoy. "Silent enim leges inter arma, Harry. Rules are silent in times of war." 


	3. Chapter 3

"Toss away your wand, Harry. There's no incentive for you to try anything stupid." Malfoy looked near in laughter, as if he couldn't believe Harry just fell for his trap. Harry dropped his only weapon. He always had his wand. It was the first time that his wand was away from him in years.  
  
"Kick it over here." Harry felt no way out of it, so he did. It flew in the air and hit Malfoy's shin. He then crushed it under his feet. A splintering sound showed it had broken in two. The magical ingredient in it also broke, and emitted sparks from both broken ends.  
  
"Do you read at all, Harry?" Malfoy asked.  
  
"Why do you care?" Harry retorted.  
  
"Well I'm rather partial to mystery novels." Malfoy spoke as if Harry had not even replyed. "Now with most teachers in this school hating me, and having hoards of enemies, I have quite a lot of time to read. So I've consumed many titles. And do you know what I've noticed about all of them?" Malfoy went on without giving Harry a chance to speak. "Every villain, all evildoers, they somehow all reveal their plans to the protagonists. When they believe all control is theirs and victory is only a breath away, each and every one of them spills their guts. All secrets, every plan that they worked so hard to keep unknown was told. They all knew that if the 'good guy' escaped they would be ruined. But they still said every detail of their plan. And do you know why?" This time Malfoy actually waited for a response. When none came, he continued. "Because it makes the victory final. It makes then feel better and all their hard work means something finally. They have outsmarted the 'good guys' and they can die with that thought on their minds."  
  
"And you are telling me this, why?" Harry was surprised to hear his voice so normal. After all, he was trapped in a room with thirteen people (at least one who wished to kill him) without a wand in his hand.  
  
"Because I'm not going to tell you my other plan for you. I've learned from my mistakes you see. I have a lot of things planned for you and your friends this year, and why bother ruining the fun by telling you." At that Malfoy stepped back, and raised his wand. "Good bye Harry. I promise this will hurt. Stupefy!" A beam of light emitted from the end of Malfoy's wand and rushed towards Harry.  
  
"Protego!" The shield jinx blocked Malfoy's spell and deflected it toward one of the other hooded people. It hit him directly in the chest and he fell in a heap.  
  
"What the...? Oh, very clever, Harry. Now this is exactly what I was talking about." Malfoy saw Harry hold his wand up higher. He looked down at the splintery remains of the other wand. "And whose is this, might I ask?" "Ron's other one. It might have broken in half two years ago but still looks like one. I held Ron's wand when I came in, and had mine up my sleeve. Don't think I never expected your trap."  
  
"See, what did I tell you about telling all your plan?" Nine of the hooded people, including Malfoy, made their way to one side of the room. Two of them were trying to revive the stunned one without much success. "That shield jinx won't protect you now. It can only block one jinx, and here comes nine." Each person raised their wand, including Harry. "Any last words, Harry?" "Yes, Malfoy." Harry narrowed his eyes and concentrated on Malfoy. "Accio Malfoy." The summoning curse worked well. Malfoy was dragged all the way to Harry by an invisible force. Harry quickly grabbed him and pointed the wand at his neck. "Anyone tries to follow me, and Malfoy here gets hit. Harry groped behind him for the door latch. He found it. He struggled to open the Heavy door with one hand, but he did it. He took a tentative step back. No one else moved, or dared to. "Good bye, Malfoy." Harry threw himself out of the room. He ran. He ran until his lungs felt like exploding and his heart threatened to throw itself out of his chest. He then ran some more. Harry finally got to the door leading out of the third floor corridor, and into the brightly lit staircases. Harry rested here for a minute. If somebody caught him out of bounds, it wouldn't help to see him out of breath. After a few minutes, when Harry's heartbeat has gone down a bit, he finally took the latch and opened the door. Before it opened more than a crack. A hand smashed on the door. It closed with a thump. Harry turned around. Malfoy stood there, quite content with how things were going. "How did you get here!" Harry said this, bitterly realizing that he had put his wand in his pocket to open the door. "Let's just say I know more about secret passages in this school than you. Well you made me realize the dangers of long speech back in the room, so I'll just kill you now." "Avada..." The curse Malfoy began to speak was no ordinary curse. It was the killing curse, and Harry braced for the flash of green light that would signal the end of his life. 


End file.
